Residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, are anticipating the return of 29,000 students to the area next week. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the oldest public universities, is preparing to welcome students back to campus for the fall semester.
According to a report by the News & Observer, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is preparing to welcome tens of thousands of students back to campus next week for the fall semester. Since the university announced its plans to reopen its campus, some local residents in the surrounding area have expressed concerns that the influx of students will increase the likelihood of a coronavirus outbreak.
Chapel Hill resident Logan Pratico condemned the university over its decision to reopen campus. “I’m frankly stunned at the university’s decision to open its doors to in-person classes literally as the pandemic reaches its height,” Pratico said.
“The idea that 20,000 18- to 20-year-olds … will suddenly be walking around Chapel Hill coming from all over the country is frankly terrifying,” Parker added. “The university should be ashamed of itself for prioritizing student tuition and money over the lives of Chapel Hill citizens.”
Chapel Hill city council member Michael Parker argued this week that the community should adopt protocols that could prevent the spread of the virus.
“In the case of students, in the case of these large, off-campus houses, we need to be more than just complaint-driven. I think that we need to have some active monitoring so that we don’t wait for things to be bad,” he said.
Breitbart News reported early in July that Harvard University had announced that all of its courses will be administered online for the 2020-2021 academic year. California State University announced in May that it will keep its 23 campuses closed for the fall semester to prevent the spread of the virus.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.